Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa and Graham released a criminal referral they had sent to the Justice Department earlier this year asking for an investigation into the former spy, Christopher Steele. The senators say they’ve found evidence that either Steele lied to the FBI or classified documents supporting the surveillance contain false statements. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

People rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., is shown on television as she speaks from the House floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, as a news conference that she was supposed to attend goes on in the background. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A woman is arrested by Capitol Police after participating in an act of civil disobedience in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in the Russell Rotunda, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

House Speaker Paul Ryan vows that once Congress reaches a budget deal, lawmakers will take up the plight of immigrant "Dreamers" who face deportation after being brought to the U.S. illegally as children. (Feb. 8)

On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended her daylong Wednesday speech in which she announced her opposition to a budget plan and tried to force GOP House leaders to promise a vote on legislation to protect young immigrants. (Feb. 8)

In Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah's first White House press briefing, he responded to former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman's remarks that the Trump presidency "is not going to be OK." (Feb. 7)

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., walks to his office at the Capitol, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in Washington., as lawmakers pushed to enact a massive budget deal along with a stopgap temporary measure to prevent a government shutdown at midnight. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Sen. Rand Paul is holding up a vote on the Senate budget deal, demanding more debate on the bill which will add $1.5 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. Lawmakers are facing a midnight deadline to pass the legislation. (Feb. 7)

The Senate's top Republican says there's Senate agreement on a two-year, almost $400 billion budget deal that would provide Pentagon and domestic programs with huge spending increases. (Feb. 7)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis took the podium at Wednesday's White House press briefing to discuss how a proposed 2-year budget deal will affect the military. (Feb. 7)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa and Graham released a criminal referral they had sent to the Justice Department earlier this year asking for an investigation into the former spy, Christopher Steele. The senators say they’ve found evidence that either Steele lied to the FBI or classified documents supporting the surveillance contain false statements. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

People rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Jacquelyn Martin

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., is shown on television as she speaks from the House floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, as a news conference that she was supposed to attend goes on in the background. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Susan Walsh

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the chamber after announcing an agreement in the Senate on a two-year, almost $400 billion budget deal that would provide Pentagon and domestic programs with huge spending increases, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

A woman is arrested by Capitol Police after participating in an act of civil disobedience in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in the Russell Rotunda, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Jacquelyn Martin

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, walk to the chamber after collaborating on an agreement in the Senate on a two-year, almost $400 billion budget deal that would provide Pentagon and domestic programs with huge spending increases, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, walk to the chamber after collaborating on an agreement in the Senate on a two-year, almost $400 billion budget deal that would provide Pentagon and domestic programs with huge spending increases, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

House Speaker Paul Ryan vows that once Congress reaches a budget deal, lawmakers will take up the plight of immigrant "Dreamers" who face deportation after being brought to the U.S. illegally as children. (Feb. 8)

On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended her daylong Wednesday speech in which she announced her opposition to a budget plan and tried to force GOP House leaders to promise a vote on legislation to protect young immigrants. (Feb. 8)

In Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah's first White House press briefing, he responded to former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman's remarks that the Trump presidency "is not going to be OK." (Feb. 7)

In this image from video from Senate Television, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks on the floor of the Senate Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Senate TV via AP)

HOGP

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., walks to his office after speaking on the Senate floor, at the Capitol, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in Washington., as lawmakers pushed to enact a massive budget deal. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Jose Luis Magana

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., walks to his office at the Capitol, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in Washington., as lawmakers pushed to enact a massive budget deal along with a stopgap temporary measure to prevent a government shutdown at midnight. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Jose Luis Magana

Sen. Rand Paul is holding up a vote on the Senate budget deal, demanding more debate on the bill which will add $1.5 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. Lawmakers are facing a midnight deadline to pass the legislation. (Feb. 7)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government stumbled into a shutdown at midnight as a rogue Senate Republican blocked a speedy vote on a massive, bipartisan, budget-busting spending deal, protesting the return of trillion-dollar deficits on the watch of Republicans controlling Washington.

The shutdown — technically a lapse in agency appropriations — was the second government closure in less than a month, another product of election-year partisan disputes and persistent internal divisions in both parties.

It crept up slowly Thursday night after GOP Sen. Rand Paul repeatedly held up votes on the budget plan, futilely seeking a vote on reversing spending increases.

"I ran for office because I was very critical of President Obama's trillion-dollar deficits," the Kentucky senator said. "Now we have Republicans hand in hand with Democrats offering us trillion-dollar deficits. I can't in all honesty look the other way."

As the clock hit midnight, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney immediately implemented plans to close non-essential government operations, said spokesman John Czwartacki.

The move essentially started a race to the next deadline — the scramble to reopen the government before federal employees were due to report for work. The Senate planned to hold votes in the middle of the night and send the budget deal and temporary spending measure over the House by dawn.

If the measure passes in the wee hours of the morning, the government would open in the morning on schedule.

If not, a partial shutdown would essentially force half the federal workforce to stay home, freeze some operations and close some parks and outposts. Services deemed essential would continue, including Social Security payments, the air traffic control system and law enforcement.

At the White House, there appeared to be little sense of concern. Aides closed shop early in the night, with no comment on the display on the Hill. The president did not tweet. Vice President Mike Pence, in South Korea for the Winter Olympics, said the administration was "hopeful" the shutdown would not last long.

But frustrations were clear in both sides of the Capitol, where just hours earlier leaders had been optimistic that the budget deal was a sign they had left behind some of their chronic dysfunction. Senate Democrats sparked a three-day partial government shutdown last month by filibustering a spending bill, seeking relief for "Dreamer" immigrants who've lived in the country illegally since they were children. This time it was a Republican's turn to throw a wrench in the works.

Paul brushed off pleas from his fellow Republicans, who billed the budget plan as an "emergency" measure needed for a depleted military.

"We will effectively shut down the federal government for no good reason," said Sen. John Cornyn, as his requests to move to a vote were repeatedly rejected by Paul.

Paul was unfazed.

"I didn't come up here to be part of somebody's club. I didn't come up here to be liked," he said.

Approval of the measure in the Senate seemed assured — eventually — but the situation in the House remained dicey. In that chamber, progressive Democrats and tea party Republicans opposed the measure, which contains roughly $400 billion in new spending for the Pentagon, domestic agencies, disaster relief and extending a host of health care provisions.

However, House GOP leaders said they were confident they had shored up support among conservatives for the measure, which would shower the Pentagon with money but add hundreds of billions of dollars to the nation's $20 trillion-plus debt.

House Democratic leaders opposed the measure — arguing it should resolve the plight of Dreamers — but not with all their might.

The legislation doesn't address immigration, though Republican Speaker Paul Ryan said again Thursday he was determined to bring an immigration bill to the floor this year — albeit only one that has President Donald Trump's blessing.

At a late afternoon meeting, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California made it plain she wasn't pressuring fellow Democrats to kill the bill, which is packed with money for party priorities like infrastructure, combating opioid abuse and helping college students.

Still, it represented a bitter defeat for Democrats who followed a risky strategy to use the party's leverage on the budget to address immigration and ended up scalded by last month's three-day government shutdown. Protection for the Dreamers under former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, expires next month.

Republicans were sheepish about the bushels of dollars for Democratic priorities and the return next year of $1 trillion-plus deficits. But they pointed to money they have long sought for the Pentagon, which they say needs huge sums for readiness, training and weapons modernization.

"It provides what the Pentagon needs to restore our military's edge for years to come," said Ryan.

Beyond $300 billion worth of record increases for the military and domestic programs, the agreement adds $89 billion in overdue disaster aid for hurricane-slammed Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, a politically charged increase in the government's borrowing cap and a grab bag of health and tax provisions. There's also $16 billion to renew a slew of expired tax breaks that Congress seems unable to kill.

"I love bipartisanship, as you know," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. "But the problem is the only time we discover bipartisanship is when we spend more money."

The deal contains far more money demanded by Democrats than had seemed possible only weeks ago.

"We're not going to get DACA as part of this," said Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee. "So if we can negotiate a deal like I think we've gotten that essentially meets every other one of our priorities then I think that's where a lot of the Democrats are."

Combined with the Republicans' December tax cut bill, the burst in spending would put the GOP-controlled government on track for the first $1 trillion-plus deficits since Obama's first term and the aftermath of the most recent recession nine years ago.

"This budget deal shows just how broken the budget process is, that Congress thinks the only way to agree to a budget is to put hundreds of billions of dollars on the nation's credit card," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington-based group.

The agreement would increase the government's borrowing limit to prevent a first-ever default on U.S. obligations that looms in just a few weeks. The debt limit would be suspended through March 2019, putting the next vote on it safely past this year's midterm elections.

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